Let Sleeping Time Lords Lay
by drwhofangirl591
Summary: Rest is for the weary and sleep is for the dead. Peri catches the Doctor napping and is left to her own devices in the Tardis.


When the cat's away Peri will play

The Tardis was quiet Peri thought as she left of her room having just finished cleaning up after their latest adventure saw them traipsing through a bog while escaping their most recent round of imprisonment. It was too quiet she decided drawing nearer the console room. Usually by now she could hear the Doctor making some kind of racket as he attempted to make repairs or chart a new course. She pulled open the door, peering inside she found the console room lacking one brightly colored Time Lord. Unexpected but not unusual she supposed. She turned around and went to look for him elsewhere starting with the kitchen.

The kitchen like the control room was deserted too, as was the workshop, his bedroom, and the maintenance areas he was prone to frequenting. The library was the last logical place she could think to check before she started looking into random rooms. Pushing open the door Peri heard him before she saw him. She followed the sound of his snoring and found the missing Doctor sound asleep with a book precariously dangling from one hand off the edge of the sofa he was sprawled across.

"So much for sleep being for the dead," Peri mumbled. He made an obnoxiously loud sound as if offended by her comment. "Can't you do anything quietly?"

She was about to wake him when it occurred to her what a golden opportunity this actually was. No manic Doctor rushing her about or causing untold accidents in his attempts to meddle with the Tardis's systems. There was no telling how long he'd be out for but she was going to make the most of this precious time. Backing away from the Doctor as quietly as possible Peri headed to the kitchen realizing that for once she could fix herself something to eat without his special brand of 'help'.

Half an hour and one uncharred meal later Peri returned to the library to check on the Doctor. He'd hardly moved though the book had finally slipped from his hand which didn't appear to have fazed him any. She picked it up and laid it on the table. Curious she gave his shoulder a light poke. He continued snoring away oblivious to the world. Shrugging Peri left again and went to change into her swim suit.

She bobbed around the pool at her own leisure for a bit, enjoying the peace and quiet though part of her still couldn't shake the feeling that the Doctor was going to burst in at any minute as he tended to do.

Finishing her swim she redressed and decided to stop by the greenhouse room that the Doctor had showed her. He let her use this area to continue her botany studies and keep a specimen collection.

Peri felt ashamed when she saw how neglected the plants were looking. Some had started to wilt while others were in dire need of pruning. It was difficult to keep up any kind of regular routine when you were busy running from all manner of alien threats or stuck sitting in your third prison cell that week. She spent some time tending to the plants and catching up on her log notes. With that chore done and still no sign of the Doctor she realized there wasn't much else for her to do.

Leaving the greenhouse Peri paced through the hallways trying to come up with other activities to pass the time. She thought about grabbing a book from the library but she wasn't really in the mood for reading. She thought about trying to get some sleep but decided that about the time she'd fall asleep was when the Doctor would show up to drag her out of bed and onto their next adventure. She passed by the entertainment room and stopped. Peri hadn't used it much but the Doctor had given her a brief tutorial on how the system worked. It felt like forever since she'd last sat down and enjoyed a movie, now seemed the perfect time for it.

It took her a few minutes but she finally got the hang of the controls. The film library was endless. It contained movies from every decade of Earth's history as well as a multitude of films from other planets in every genre she could think of. Deciding to play it safe she chose a movie from her own time, _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. She'd always enjoyed that film even if it was completely inaccurate about archaeology and what it actually entailed. Peri would be lying if she said she'd never wished that her parents' digs could have been even a tenth as exciting as Indy's adventures.

About half way through the movie Peri started to get bored or maybe lonely was more accurate. Watching a movie alone just wasn't the same as watching it with someone who you could joke and make sarcastic remarks with. Peri imagined that the Doctor would have quite the satirical commentary regarding this movie. She made a mental note to suggest they have a movie night. Maybe that would turn out better than their game night which had ended in an argument because neither of them could agree on a game to play.

Turning off the film Peri went back to the library once more. She was greeted by silence and wondered if Sleeping Beauty had finally woken up.

No such luck. Apart from having turned onto his side he was exactly where she'd left him. At least the snoring had stopped.

As infuriating as he could be at times the Tardis wasn't the same without him dashing madly about. Peri reached out ready to wake him then froze. Her hand hovered above his shoulder as she contemplated the consequences of rousing him. It would most likely end one of two ways, either he would be annoyed that she had disturbed him or annoyed that she had let him sleep for so long. No matter what it was almost guaranteed that he would be in a foul mood. Maybe she should just leave him be. He rarely slept so the reason he was out like a light was probably because he was more exhausted than even he realized.

The real question though was how much more boredom could she endure?

Deciding to risk his wrath Peri gave his arm a firm shake, "Doctor?"

He didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, time to wake up."

Unbothered the Doctor shrugged off her hand as he adjusted the arm he was using for a makeshift pillow. She tried lightly patting his cheek to see if that would get his attention. It didn't.

Peri stared down at the slumbering Time Lord. For a moment she considered hauling back and smacking him across the gob but thought that that was probably a bit harsh. Irritated she jabbed a finger into the soft part of his shoulder. He twitched again trying to dislodge whatever was touching him but otherwise remained asleep.

This gave Peri a delightfully devilish idea as she wondered just how much pestering he could endure before he was forced to wake up.

Starting small she nudging his arm a few times and watching him fidget uncomfortably. In the end he was unaffected.

Peri tiptoed around to the back side of the sofa and gave his ear a flick. His brow furrowed as he swatted at the annoyance then flopped over onto his stomach with an agitated grumble.

She noticed that his shifting around had left the back of his neck exposed under his coat collar which begged the question, were Time Lords ticklish? Peri was about to find out.

Ever so lightly she dragged her nails along the nape of his neck sending a shiver down his spine. Peri gleefully repeated the action using a bit more pressure. He instantly curled into a ball, squirming away from her touch with a pitiful whine as if to ask why he was being picked on.

Peri quickly covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. She came around and sat next to him on the edge of the sofa then proceeded to prod him in the chest one last time after he'd stretched back out onto his side. The Doctor whimpered pathetically and protested again but refused to be disturbed from his rest.

She looked on him with feigned sympathy, "Aww poor thing," and gave him a patronizing pat on the head. "Alright I'll leave you alone now."

It was back to square one. With nothing really to do she picked up the Doctor's book from the coffee table curious to see what he'd been reading. Skimming the first few pages she realized it was a biography on some alien ruler from a planet she'd never heard of. Not exactly her taste in reading material she decided and replaced the book on the table. She leaned back against the Time Lord, using his torso as an armrest to prop up her head she watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful a part of her felt bad for trying to wake him.

The longer she sat there in the low lighting with the soft hum of the Tardis's engines creating white noise in the background the harder Peri found it to keep herself from drifting off. The position she was sitting in quickly became uncomfortable but she didn't have the energy to move elsewhere. Instead she made the most of the space available and stretched out alongside the Doctor. Within minutes she was completely out.

The Doctor half opened one eye and peered around. He caught sight of Peri lying beside him and waited to see if she was awake before he moved. By the sound of her breathing he realized that she was sound asleep.

"Settled down at last?"

He'd been awake and fully aware of all that was happening for some time now.

Peri had offhandedly mentioned earlier that day while they were sitting in their prison cell how a few hours of peace and quiet wouldn't do either of them any harm instead of jumping from one encounter with death to the another. It had been his intention to give her just that once they were safely back inside the Tardis.

What he had not intended to do was let exhaustion get the better of him while waiting for Peri to get cleaned up. When he'd woken up and realized what had happened he decided that it was easier to let Peri continue to believe he was sleeping while she enjoyed her free time in whatever way she saw fit. But he hadn't count on her repeatedly checking up on him.

She'd nearly caught him this last time. He'd been reading when he heard the door open and had just enough time to get back into position before she appeared. Luckily she hadn't noticed that the book had moved from where she'd left it. Yes he could've come clean at that point but instead he chose to play possum just to see what Peri would do since she had clearly run out of things to occupy her. He rubbed at his chest hoping he wasn't going to end up with a bruise; her last jab had actually kind of hurt.

Careful not disturb his companion the Doctor climbed off the sofa and gently repositioned her so that she didn't look so close to falling off the edge. Grabbing a blanket from one of the other chairs he draped it over her making sure she was comfortable before leaving. Maybe in a couple hours he'd come back and exact a little revenge on her if she was still asleep.


End file.
